Motorsports used to be an “all-men-affair” until the mid-1950s. But the world of motorsports has continued to change drastically since the 50s. We’ve seen many female drivers in recent years competing professionally, and with the development of the sport, the scope of sports betting online is also rising.
Pioneers such as Maria Teresa de Filippis, Michèle Mouton, Danica Patrick, and Susie Wolff laid the foundation for transforming the sport into what it is today. In this article, we celebrate some of the most iconic female figures to grace the world of motorsports:
Danica Patrick
Patrick holds the honor of being the only woman to win an IndyCar race in 2008 when she outraced Helio Castroneves by a little over 5 seconds at the Indy Japan 300.
Patrick’s career resume is filled with many firsts. She is also the first woman to earn a pole position in the NASCAR Cup Series and finish highest in the IndyCar Series overall standings when she placed 5th in 2009.
Desiré Wilson
Although Desiré Wilson never qualified for Formula 1 (F1), she remains one of five women to enter a Grand Prix. She missed out on the British Grand Prix in 1980 and failed to make it to Indy500 after three trials.
To this day, the South African native remains the only woman to win an F1 race of any kind after winning at Brands Hatch in the British Aurora F1 series.
Jamie Chadwick
In 2015, Jamie Chadwick won the British GT championship. She became the youngest and first female driver to win the title.
The 24-year-old British won the inaugural W-Series championship and reclaimed her crown in 2021. She holds the record for most wins, podiums, pole positions, and points in this tournament.
Chadwick also currently serves a role as the development driver for Williams in F1.
Jutta Kleinschmidt
In 1997, Jutta Kleinschmidt famously became the first woman to win a race at any stage of the Dakar Rally. Also in 2001, she remains the only woman to win the Dakar Rally and the only German to top the car category.
Lella Lombardi
Lombardi remains the only female to register points in F1. She famously finished sixth in the Spanish GP, a tournament that unfortunately led to the death of five spectators.
Lombardi would go on to compete in 12 F1 races before her demise in 1992.
Maria Teresa de Filippis
She became the first woman to compete in Formula 1 and went on to compete in five Grand Prix from 1958 to 1959 after winning her first race on the Amalfi coast.
Michèle Mouton
Who would you say is the most iconic female driver of all time? Michèle Mouton is in that conversation.
She came out victorious in four races for the Audi factory team before famously finishing a close second at the drivers’ world championship race in 1982, behind German driver Walter Rohrl who is widely regarded as one of the greatest rally drivers of all time. To add to this, the French driver won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb four years later in a record-breaking race.
Molly Taylor
Taylor won three of the five races held during the Extreme E Championship tournament last year, enough to earn her the top spot. The Aussie had previously won the Australian Rally Champion in 2016, becoming the first female and the youngest driver of any gender to achieve this feat.
Sarah Fisher
Sarah Fisher made nine starts in the Indianapolis 500 between 1999 to 2010 and remains the only woman to have as many stars in this tournament. She registered a career-best 17th finish at the 93rd Indianapolis 500 held in 2009, beating the previous career-high (18th) she recorded two years prior.
Fisher has made 81 appearances in the IndyCar Series and was the recipient of the ‘Most Popular Driver’ award on three occasions. She also raced in the NASCAR West Series from 2004 to 2005.
Susie Wolff
After driving for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) team for seven years, Wolff was signed to the Williams F1 team as a testing and development driver in 2012. Two years later, she raced at the British Grand Prix in 2014, becoming the first woman to participate in an F1 race in 22 years.
